odds and ends hen house

Just a show-and-tell, not a tutorial, since your scrap pile will differ from mine significantly. With the exception of hinges, hardware, and shingles from Bring and some chicken wire from the farm store, all materials were on-hand including leftover cedar siding and fence board scraps, sections of 2x4 and 2x2, chunks of 4x4 posts, and old bifold closet doors.

(This is a chicken house, yes, but our outside cat sleeps safely in there at night, protecting her from cars and fights.)

Enjoy!

The scrap pile was pulled out onto the lawn for planning the hen house.

Some pieces were cut to length for support structures.

With slats removed, bifold door braces make side supports.

The basic structure, made of 2x4 scrap, bifold door lumber, and 2x2 pieces.

The door, made of leftover cedar siding and 1x3 boards.

The first side gets covered in siding.

The "run", framed in, was ready to be covered with chicken wire.

The hen house was covered in cedar siding, then had the roof peak added.

Legs are made from 4x4 chunks leftover from a fencing project.

Inside, floor boards are made of scrap lumber, and a vent on the back wall is made of hardware cloth tucked between layers of siding. The space left in the floor is the entry/exit to the run.

Side view of the hen house attached to the run.

Hardware cloth is attached to the roof peaks for ventilation and a view.

Shutter slats are nailed in place to hide edges and cover the sharp ends of wire on the outside.

Roof decking is made of lengths of cedar fence boards.

Tar paper covers the roof decking. We've had this tar paper leftover from roofing and siding  projects on the shed and studio.

Asphalt shingles are pretty easy to come by at Bring in small quantities. I found just enough to cover the roof.

I used a partial tube of roofing tar to secure the shingles in addition to roofing nails. We had the tar leftover from installing a skylight in the shed earlier this summer.

The door handle and piano hinge came from Bring as well. The other hinges were removed from an old standing screen that had its lumber incorporated into this project.

A small shelf holds a cat food can up off the ground. The edge is made of shutter slats.

Finished! The chicken wire run is continued to the area underneath the hen house, allowing for extra space to move, and is held to the ground with tent stakes.

The door is latched with a hook & eye on each side. The run is attached to the hen house with hook & eye fasteners as well, which allows for easy cleaning.

Complete! One hen house made mostly of stuff we had on hand. This was an interesting challenge because the scrap pile had to be used creatively to make a solid and attractive structure. In the end, it lives up to expectations. I think any time I build from scrap I end up especially happy with the results, but this hen house is one of my favorites.

Thanks for following along as I innovated!

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My Repurposed Life